Top seed Rafael Nadal swept aside Andy Murray in straight sets on Friday to set up a much-awaited men's singles final clash with second seed Novak Djokovic on Sunday, who had to work hard for his 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over 18th seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. (All images AFP)

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Top seed Rafael Nadal swept aside Andy Murray in straight sets on Friday to set up a much-awaited men's singles final clash with second seed Novak Djokovic on Sunday, who had to work hard for his 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over 18th seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. (All images AFP)

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Day 12 of the 2014 French Open virtually started with second seed Novak Djokovic facing 18th seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in the first men's singles semifinal at Court Philippe Chatrier. Djokovic broke in the very 5th game of the first set and took it 6-3 inside 41 minutes of play.

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Gulbis had now started to think what he could do to come back into this match and in between the breaks, he took enough liquids to keep himself hydrated.

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Gulbis did a little better in the second set and took a lot more chances with his forehand. He was striking the guts of his racquet while trying to regroup himself to perform better. There were no racquets broken yet from the Latvian, despite him being known in the tennis world for breaking 60-70 racquets every year. This time, he was composed.

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Djokovic broke when he was leading 4-3 in the second set and this virtually gave him a huge opportunity to take a two sets to love lead. While serving at 5-3, he gave Gulbis a small chance to break back but fought off a deuce situation well to win the second set 6-3 after just 34 minutes.

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Third set and Gulbis was now looking much better in both his serves and his baseline strokes! He made most of it and won 6-3 to send fans at Court Philippe Chatrier roaring in jubilation. They wanted a good match out of this!

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Djokovic also slammed his racquet in disgust after losing the third set. Very unlike of the second seed from Serbia.

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However, Djokovic came back well in the fourth set and won it 6-3 in just 34 minutes to book his place in the men's singles final. He took two hours and 36 minutes to end on the winning side in the first men's singles semifinal.

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After the end of the match, there was a great embrace between Gulbis and Djokovic. Both players looked very tired after a hot day. The temperatures reached their maximum at 28 degrees celsius, the highest during this year's French Open.

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It was time for the second men's singles semifinal there and Court Philippe Chatrier looked all set to welcome defending champion Rafael Nadal and current Wimbledon champion Andy Murray. There was a huge cheer in the crowd as Nadal made his way to the court.

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Rafael Nadal was uncompromising in his brutal display of spin and attack from the baseline right from the front and Murray was unable to match to Nadal's ability. Nadal first raced to a 3-0 lead and then took the first set 6-3 inside just 35 minutes of play.

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Andy Murray looked completely ruffled at Nadal's consistency and he was just making too many unforced errors. He conceded the second set 6-2 after just 32 minutes and Nadal was getting even better.

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Nadal had full plans to make this a short and sweet semifinal. Although it was a one-sided semfinal between him and Murray, people had full faith that the final was going to be a closely-contested one between Nadal and Djokovic, especially with Nadal in good form.

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Nadal took the third set 6-1 and completely blew apart Murray for his win, the score reading 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to Nadal in the end. He was still gracious after winning like always though.

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Murray can take heart from the fact that he had a great French Open, considering he made the semifinals while still making a comeback from an injury. He will now look ahead to Wimbledon, scheduled to take place right after the French Open in two weeks time. Murray is the defending champion there.

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Back to French Open 2014 photos

French Open 2014 Photos

French Open: Rafael Nadal Sets Up Showdown Final Clash With Novak Djokovic

Top seed Rafael Nadal swept aside Andy Murray in straight sets on Friday to set up a much-awaited men's singles final clash with second seed Novak Djokovic on Sunday, who had to work hard for his 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over 18th seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. (All images AFP)